Earlier this week I showed you images of what looked like the 2014 Corvette Convertible that popped up in a couple of places, just after the reveal of the 2014 Corvette last Sunday. Were they real? Were they fake? I've got a little more insight this morning.

The photos appeared on both on the website of model carmaker Maisto and on the blog of The Auto Insider. GM immediately said these were not photos of the car, but wouldn't go into detail about what they actually were. Nor could they explain why it had a GM Design Center plate on it.

It's definitely NOT a render and definitely NOT a scale model, but the lack of CHMSL, RV mirror, nameplate plus the extremely tight cutlines and other "scale modely" bits you mention point to this car not being "real" in the conventional sense. It's more likely we're looking at a full-size GM design center mockup of the final C7 convertible design.

Did they come from Maisto?

These came to me from a different source, but I did hear that MAISTO accidentally dumped these yesterday as well.

Why no vents?

Likely reason for its absence is that this car is a base or 1LE package car and not equipped with the Z51 package (or the auto). The performance (and auto) package driver's side vent sends charged air over a heat exchanger for the transmission fluid. Similarly, the shoulder vent on the passenger side shoots cool air over a heat exchanger for the e-diff. But then again, this is just a full-size design center mockup of the C7 convertible final design that would never need those vents in the first place.

There you have it, and given the non-denial denial from GM I feel more confident about this.